Wrexham's Abandoned Canal

[@jonathanellis1842]

Wonderful, thank you for your work to document this section of canal. It is local to Me and as you mentioned in closing the history particularly Chester south though Wrexham - Ruanbon is very much lost in time, the map you showed (and on Wikipedia) is more like a rough draft with no real meaning as to the geographical true canal route intentions.

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

@@jonathanellis1842 it’s about all I could find. If you follow the bits that were built it’s fairly inline with what you’d expect. All I could find was a very very rough area for the junction, that’s kind of why I just picked wrexhams stadium as a point of reference as it would have been “a mile or so” away from there. It was a very difficult video to research, tithe maps may have helped but most resources I use the canal was already gone.

[@algernon9324]

Absolutely fascinating. Your research really brought this lost wonder to life. I agree, it would have been a treasure if fully built and still in water to this day. Thank you.

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

Repeated comment see other response :)

[@alexanderblades8078]

Great piece about what was going to be a very challenging bit of industrial heritage to pull together. Well done in being able to trace the route and tie in the associated history and development (or not as case would be) of this area. It was a pleasure to watch as usual.

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

@@alexanderblades8078 thank you, I don’t know what I would do without google maps these days! It makes tracing even hard areas like these that little easier! Although even then I nearly ended up in the wrong place

[@JuliaHopewell]

Thank you so much for the presentation and research that you have put into this. It is always sad to see areas where the canal has been lost to recovery. At the time it would have made sense I guess. When watching, we do sometimes get a bit lost with the map references. Perhaps a description of which line is canal/rail would be beneficial if you can spare the time? It has really helped when you show yourself pointing on some of the maps. Your work and enthusiasm is really appreciated.

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

It’s something I am trying to improve, the new maps and me pointing seems to have gone down better than other attempts but I am always looking for ways to improve things. The issue is where I draw the line, if I do too much the videos will be way too long, this video was already 10 minutes longer than I like. It’s a shame I can’t hand out physical maps before we start 😂

[@williamlloyd3769]

Amazing how industrialized some of these areas were, but now used for agriculture or housing.

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

It’s almost a shame sometimes as often houses are built on lines that could be reopened but being a mineral line it wouldn’t be of no use in the future so actually it’s good in this case!

[@drthomason7043]

Thanks, I enjoyed walking the towpath of England and reading novels about the water gypsies and the canal Girls during WW2

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

It’s a peaceful way of life isn’t it

[@daheap-b7o]

Fascinating video, have seen discussion of this canal but seen the location explained,

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

@@daheap-b7o apparently there is a group that meet and want to publicise it. I’m going to see what more I can find out

[@18robsmith]

One problem of joining the Dee in Chester is tidal nature of the Dee, along with the propensity for fast flows on the river making life more than exciting for canal boats....

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

@@18robsmith it would be similar to the Severn, it’s all done by pilots who do it all the time. I’m not sure what benefit you’d have by going out with the tide up there, everything you can get to can be accessed by going up to Ellesmere Port

[@thenoworriesnomad]

Great video...👍👍

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

@@thenoworriesnomad thank you

[@PCMenten]

Love the graphics.

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

@@PCMenten drone footage was a little difficult due to wind and tree growth so I had to try and be a bit more creative!

[@Tomthumb222]

Really great expose of this lost and long forgotten canal. I have lived in the Wrexham area all my life and I do have a great interest in canal based history but I’d never even heard of this canal. The effort you have put into researching this video is monumental. Even though I’m now into my mid seventies, I still enjoy discovering historical facts about my locality. Thank you so much for your time, effort and diligence in sharing these important facts. I am now subscribed to your Chanel.❤

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

Very few people have, it was a real struggle finding the info for it, even trying to catch info from the locals was hard enough as they didn’t have a clue. So much of my info came from an old landowner, I found old posts in a forum but haven’t had a response, I’d have loved to have met up with them and walked the route with them

[@malcolmrichardson3881]

Very enjoyable and interesting video. Congratulations on the research and footwork which went into its making. Thank you.

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

@@malcolmrichardson3881 thank you :)

[@islaws4589]

....which makes me think I the Beat Bank Canal that you was very close to when you recently visited the disused Stockport Canal. It too was abandoned during construction but evidence of some of what was cut still remains and is pretty recognisable.

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

I actually haven't researched it yet but I would like to touch on it on another video when I cover the Stockport end of the canal, there is little of that left but some bridges are still there

[@jen-angel]

Lovely history 😍🙏💭💭🥰🥰🐝🐝🐝🐝🤌👆🤍🤍🤍🤍🛡🛡Amen

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

Thanks

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

Thanks 😊

[@RayGoodwinCanoe]

Really good account of the 'lost' canal. Thank you.

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

@@RayGoodwinCanoe no problem, thanks for watching!

[@stephenjones1504]

Hi. We live in the Poolmouth Area you mentioned at the Wrexham end, we live on Highfield Road that has an abandoned leg of the railway you mentioned. Dont know if this is of interest. We also think that the canal ran along the former Gatewen Hall.

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

@@stephenjones1504 I’m not actually sure how far south it went I couldn’t find any info, I’ll do some Googling later

[@ontheroad_again]

Best edited video to date, well done 👍👍👍👍

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

Thank you so much :)

[@ontheroad_again]

@CourtAboveTheCut Apologises if I seem to be a bit of a pain in the arse regarding video/sound etc.

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

@@ontheroad_again no you aren’t, I appreciate the advice. Sound is 100% my weakest area. I watch videos trying to learn how to balance things but it’s something I struggle on. I’m slowly improving but kicks along the way always help!

[@ontheroad_again]

@CourtAboveTheCut you really have come a long way fast. In my expert opinion as a professional viewer (lol) and all gear but no idea guy I can say you are up with the best doco/story tellers on here. Keep at it 👍

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

@@ontheroad_again oh thanks mate, that’s really nice to hear!

[@ontheroad_again]

I'm really enjoying your videos, as always & appreciate your hard work. Your audio is still chirpy, if you have wind reduction feature on, trying to turn it off & and do a test to see if it fixes it.

[@ontheroad_again]

PS drone footage is looking very smooth now, well done 👍🤙

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

I figured that out, it was a stupid issue, I had FPS set wrong 😂🤦🏻‍♂️

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

New camera and new mic, the first few videos I recorded were perfect but I’ve been struggling since, I need to figure out what I’m doing wrong with it. It was very windy on the day I filmed this so you could be on to something.

[@ontheroad_again]

@CourtAboveTheCut FPS is a pain. It either all needs to be the same fps or multiples of, 25 & 50 together ok etc...from what I understand. There's very little info/tutorials on fps.

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

@@ontheroad_again it was my fault, I set it up on Final Cut Pro and then it was the same on every video, I just used to start without checking, at some point it must have changed. I always go 30 which was recommended to me by a KZbinr friend of mine who makes a living out of this.

[@glynngreen7345]

Thanks

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

Thank you so much for your support

[@thedogfather5445]

You didnt mention that the Plas Kynaston canal, basin and the connection as far as the Pontcysyllt aquaduct was built to connect the ironworks and brickworks at Plas Kynaston in order to supply the materials to build the aquaduct. Also Kynaston is pronounced 'Kin Aston'.

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

@@thedogfather5445 to be honest I didn’t know that, I have done other videos on the canal and where it’s likely to go on a restoration, thanks for the heads up on the pronunciation

[@thedogfather5445]

@@CourtAboveTheCut my pleasure, Ian Kynaston-Richards

[@MarkPulford-p7i]

Like the video. Well researched and walked. But you need to get your tongue around the correct pronunciation of place names mate. Shropshire lad.

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

I’m getting better with some but I keep finding new places to miss pronounce 😂

[@meruliouslacrimens5154]

I tried to subscribe, but i tripped over so many dropped "Gs" and "Ths" that i couldn't get near enough. When you can talk properly, maybe .....

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

Ah nevermind maybe you can keep tripping over until you find somewhere you are welcome. There must be a perfect place for someone like yourself who is obviously perfect in every way.

[@algernon9324]

Absolutely fascinating. Your research really brought this lost wonder to life. I agree, it would have been a treasure if fully built and still in water to this day. Thank you.

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

I think it would have survived as well, the only issue is the Llangollen survived because of the water from horseshoe falls, that amazing structure wouldn’t have been built if this canal continued

[@ruffnut1]

​@@CourtAboveTheCut Actually, the canal and Horseshoe Falls was always a part of the plan. The line from Trefor up to Llangollen was originally known as "The Water Line", as it was meant to be a feeder. That's why it is so narrow in places. Navigation was a secondary factor at first. Mainly to access various quarries, which were connected to the canal by tramways. Evidence of these wharfs is still visible. 🧙🏽‍♀️🙋‍♀️

[@ruffnut1]

Some errors in Chester... The Chester Canal always joined into the River Dee. There wasn't any problems with the Dee Commissioners that I know about. In fact, the hope was to save Chester as a Port, in competition with Liverpool, by bringing Salt from Middlewich and Nantwich for export. The Staircase Locks at Northgate were originally 5 locks, straight into the large Dee Basin, in the shadow of the old Water Tower. The river lock bottom gates have gone missing (not flood gates) over the last few years since CRT have allowed the navigation to be closed (temporarily...) There was a road (Sealand Road) swing bridge over the Dee branch just above the River Lock. When this was replaced by a fixed bridge, an extra set of gates were installed. This turned the River Lock in effect into a two rise Staircase, so boats could drop sufficiently to get under the "new" bridge. The basin was left partly full of old boats and Flats after the Shropshire Union Railways & Canal Company gave up carrying in 1921. Infill was dumped over the wrecks, and more recently, piles were driven through them to build the apartment blocks there now. The two locks from the Ellesmere Canal Wirral Line to the Dee Basin were built to replace the bottom two locks of the Northgate Staircase when the Wirral Line was built. The canal towards Wrexham would actually have started on the opposite bank of the River Dee to the Chester Canal River Lock, and climbed up the Alyn Valley, roughly on the same line as the current railway from Saltney Junction to Wrexham. The Trent & Mersey Canal did indeed thwart the ambition for the Chester Canal to get to Middlewich. Much later, the branch to Middlewich was built as a Narrow Canal... The T&M built and controlled the Wardle Canal, which is possibly the shortest canal... mainly consisting of the Wardle Lock and a few yards of canal in Middlewich. 🧙🏽‍♀️🙋‍♀️

[@ruffnut1]

The Main Line of the Ellesmere Canal from Trefor to Shrewsbury went down the locks at Welsh Frankton, and turned left at the T junction below the locks. The line to the right being a branch to Llanymynech, where it joined the Montgomery Canal. (The canal from Welsh Frankton Junction, down the locks and turning right is now called the Montgomery Canal...) This line was built as far as Weston Lullingfields, where a wharf was built. Construction on to the Severn at Shrewsbury was abandoned, as the Napoleononic Wars high inflation had delayed the works, and the Shrewsbury Canal network was by then taking local coal to Shrewsbury. The idea of supplying Ruabon and Wrexham coal to Shrewsbury was no longer a good idea... The line from Welsh Frankton to Whitchurch, with the branch to Ellesmere, was originally considered a branch line. The route from by Whitchurch to Hurleston on the Chester Canal, near Nantwich, was only built after the abandonment of the idea of building from Trefor to Chester. The Chester Canal had threatened to stop providing water to the Ellesmere Canal Wirral Line, unless the Ellesmere Canal built a connection from its isolated network to the Chester Canal. Thus what is today known as the Llangollen Canal was built. The Ellesmere & Chester canal company was formed when the two amalgamated. This company built the branch to Middlewich. The Birmingham & Liverpool Junction Canal was built from Nantwich to by Wolverhampton. This company amalgamated with the E&C company to form the Shropshire Union Railways & Canal Company. This company planned to build railways, and convert the canal from Calveley to Wolverhampton into a railway... The London & North Western Railway Company saw this as a threat to it's traffic, and took over the SUR&C Company, and stopped any more railway building...so saving the main line from becoming a railway! Vested in the London, Midland, & Scottish Railway from 1923, it became part of British Railways (Midland Region) before being transferred to the Docks & Inland Waterways Executive, known as British Waterways... Now known as The Canal & River Trust..🙂 🧙🏽‍♀️🙋‍♀️

[@CourtAboveTheCut]

@@ruffnut1 ah thanks, I found the maps on a forum (canal world) I did ask for permission to use but the OP hasn’t been active for a number of years, I hope it’s ok to have used? I’ll try and find the model railway forum I’d be interested to see